Chapter 1044
In the period since Davey and the rest of the 268th batch joined as new knights, two more batches had followed. Normally, the Archon Knights only recruited in cycles of five to ten years, meaning there shouldn’t have been any new batches yet after theirs. But due to past incidents—attacks from dark mages, conflicts with the Illuminati, and various other disasters—the number of knights had dwindled significantly.
In response, the order had hastily gathered new recruits, even if it meant bending their usual high standards. Maybe that was why so many arrogant brats had made it in.
The twin sisters of the Anchor Knight Order, who had just returned from patrolling a danger zone in the north, summarized everything that had happened while Davey and Illyna were away.
“Well, there isn’t supposed to be a younger batch after us yet.”
The new recruits consisted of eight knights in the 269th batch and ten in the problematic 270th batch. Compared to the 268th, the numbers were small, but even gathering that many had been a struggle. After all, recruiting knights required meeting strict criteria.
“Of course, their arrogance is a problem. But we can’t exactly criticize them when they have the skills to back it up and are genuinely committed to protecting the order.”
In other words, they weren’t bad kids; just incredibly self-absorbed.
“Sure, other knight orders are complaining too, but when have the senior knights ever been pushovers? It’s just that Alpha Reinforcements is... a little special.”
The 270th batch of recruits was still only considered trainees since they had yet to take the official knight promotion exam. Nevertheless, after watching the senior knights train, they had openly declared that their seniors weren’t as impressive as they expected and even outright started provoking them. The seniors weren’t happy about it, but they couldn’t just beat down the new recruits, who were needed for the order’s future.
Then things got even worse. The instructors who usually oversaw the trainees had been sent away on a large-scale mission, leaving the 266th batch in charge of training. The problem was that the 266th batch was the only one without a Master-level knight. They were good seniors, but in terms of pure skill, they lacked the strength to dominate the fresh recruits.
As a result, while leading a training session, a trainee defeated one of the 266th knights. That was all it took.